Mega Man, known in Japan as Rockman (ロックマン), is the main protagonist of the classic Mega Man series, developed by Capcom. He is a robot that was originally created as a lab assistant by the scientist Dr. Thomas Xavier Light, but following treachery by Dr. Wily, he was converted into a fighting robot to defend the world from Wily's violent robotic threats. He appears as a playable character in Super Smash Flash 2.

Contents

Character description

After Capcom could not get the license to make an Astro Boy game, it was decided that they would develop an game with their own characters but keeping the Astro Boy concept. Although originally the names "Mighty Kid" and "Knuckle Kid" were proposed, Capcom eventually settled on "Rockman" as Mega Man's Japanese moniker. The name "Rainbow Man" was also proposed, due to his ability to change color. The word "Rock" in Rockman is a reference to the music genre rock and roll, and is meant to work in tandem with his "sister" robot, Roll. However, because of the absence of Roll in North American releases of the game and Capcom Consumer Products Division president Joe Morici's belief that the name would have little meaning to those audiences, the character was renamed Mega Man (but some speculate that the name change was due to the possible reference to rock cocaine). Such music-themed naming conventions are present in a number of Keiji Inafune's other character designs, such as Blues. In addition, the original Mega Man titles intentionally incorporated a "Rock, Paper, Scissors" gameplay mechanic into defeating certain enemies.

His most notable appearances have been within his own self-titled games, beginning with Rockman for the Nintendo Famicom in 1987. This, and all future Mega Man games released in North America and Europe, would bear the title "Mega Man" due to Capcom USA's early decision to change the name. Prior to decision on the name "Mega Man" which was proposed by Joseph Morici, Capcom had even considered the name "Rainbow Man" as a possible title due to the nature of Mega Man's color change when using different Robot Master weapons.

Nearly all of the classic series Mega Man titles have been two-dimensional sidescrollers involving horizontal movement through various levels. This mechanic continues even on titles developed for high performance platforms, such as the Sony PSP release of Mega Man Powered Up, which features 3D graphics, yet movement to both the background and foreground is restricted. The main series on both the NES and Nintendo Game Boy would follow this approach in the design of every game developed on those systems, and set the standard for all platformer Mega Man games to come. Mega Man himself has evolved very little cosmetically since his initial release, but has often been given new techniques in each game. The Mega Buster, for instance, which was introduced in Mega Man 4, allowed him to charge up a shot. The slide was introduced in Mega Man 3. It was these which were needed in order to help him exceed any new challenges added by the level designers (Although both of these techniques were removed in Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10).

Capcom, regarding Mega Man as a versatile character, has placed him in several different video game genres outside of his usual series. He has since been seen as a sports star in the Super Nintendo game Mega Man Soccer, a race car driver in Mega Man Battle & Chase, and a board game piece in Wily and Right's RockBoard. A limited release arcade fighting game series containing Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters pitted Mega Man against several boss characters from his original series.

Though Capcom owns the rights to all Mega Man games and has been responsible for the development of all of his console titles, it has in the past licensed the Mega Man character to other companies for PC releases. Mega Man and Mega Man III (with no relation to the NES games of the same name) were developed by the US-based Hi Tech Expressions, and the Mega Man game published on the Game Gear by Sega, and Rockman Strategy was developed and released exclusively in China by AcerTWP. Neither title has since been regarded by Capcom as an official Mega Man series game.

In the Super Smash Flash series

In Super Smash Flash 2

Mega Man in his classic Blue Bomber outfit replaces the Mega Man X model who first appeared in the first Super Smash Flash. Mega Man uses a variety of weapons and adapters from many of his main games. His old sprites were ripped from Mega Man 7. His new sprites are custom made and based on his appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, along with some of his moves from that game being added to SSF2. He is ranked 16th of B- tier on the current tier list.

According to the first sprite sheet revealed Mega Man's moveset was slightly different. The Mega Buster was his only standard special move before having multiple attacks with Weapon Use and his Black Hole Bomb was supposed to be his down special move before Weapon Change. Also, his side special move was supposed to be the Tengu Blade, a generic boomerang weapon.